Innovation at the Bonneville Salt Flats comes in all shapes and sizes. In 1965, two very fast cars couldn't have been more different in their approach to going fast. Yet both were together in line, one right after the other. The Redhead, an icon on the salt since 1962, had some of the most beautiful lines that ever graced Bonneville. Right behind it was the Offutt-Richards-Boschetti twin-boom streamliner who's design origins went back to 1948's twin-boom streamliner penned by Piero Taruffi. Both would go extremely fast: The Redhead set records over 300 miles per hour, while the twin-boom streamliner cruised to 194 miles per hour. Both continued to race for many years. The Redhead ran almost continuously through the 1990's while Offutt's 'liner ran through the 1970's, eventually upping its top speed to 267 miles per hour under Mark Dees' ownership. Both cars were captured in photographs by Gyronaut designer Alex Tremulis during 1965's Speed Week. The following still photographs of both cars all came from his camera. The two videos were taken by Bonneville official Bob Higbee with his ever-present 8mm movie camera. Special thanks to Mark Brazeau of landspeedracingvideo.comfor granting permission to use these segments. The "Good Old Days" 2-disk set contains tons of actual vintage footage of both Bonneville and drag racing at its absolute best. A must have!In the following undated footage, Bob McGrath(?) is getting ready to run, probably in 1969, but no doubt it was a similar scene that was repeated over and over for decades. In the background is Alex Tremulis and his wife Chrissie. Tremulis is wearing the Gyronaut 245mph T-shirt, so the footage is definitely post-1966, and another photo of Alex and Chrissie with the Gyronaut in 1969 shows them in the same clothes. In any case, these are both great vehicles that naturally caught the attention of the famous designer, enjoy! ...And don't forget to "LIKE" the Gyronaut Facebook Pageto keep updated on this story and the restoration progress of the Gyronaut X-1!

Next in line is the Redhead with one of the most voluptuous shapes to ever hit the salt. Sometimes criticized for its extreme coke-bottle shape, there's no denying its eye appeal. Starting life as a "slingshot" dragster, it would prove its worth on the salt, first in 1962 and then setting numerous records over the next three decades.

Looking fast just standing still...

Back in the saddle again...

Getting ready for the next run...

Next in line behind the Redhead is the twin-boom streamliner owned and driven by Fritz Offutt. The Redhead's new bubble canopy sits between the two streamliners.

Buckle up, it's the law...

Plenty of guages to keep your eyes busy at over 300mph......and then it's off to another record-setting attempt:

Off to the races without any assistance from a push truck. There's no sound to the video, but somehow you can still hear the chirping tires on the salt and smell the rubber it left behind. Totally insane!!!

Still waiting behind the Redhead, driver/owner Fritz Offutt is shielded from the blazing sun by a crew member.The push truck from Auto Parts Performance lines up behind the engine side of the streamliner.

Dick Boschetti built the 183cu Chevy by sleeving and de-stroking a 250ci V8. Ultimately turning in a run of 194.800 miles per hour, the twin-boom proved to be plenty fast. A special thanks to Dick Boschetti for all the comments on this unique streamliner...

Owner/Driver: Fritz OffuttChassis: Alan RichardsEngine: Dick BoschettiBuilder Alan Richards is probably much better known for one of his other "cars", a 55mph, 2.8ci, bicycle-wheeled, mini-streamliner that would be the smallest entry ever on the salt.

Back in the pits, the Gyronaut's body parts are seen in the foreground. The Offutt streamliner just a few steps away...

A beautifully diverse lineup illustrates the amount of ingenuity to be found side by side at Bonneville, limited only by the builder's imagination...

Back in line, the twin-boom is seen above another legendary racer, the Reynolds Aluminum streamliner of Bill Burke and Clarke Cagle. Directly behind the twin-boom's push truck is the Studebaker of the Pisano Brothers...

...and directly behind the Pisano Brothers is the Gyronaut X-1, patiently awaiting its turn for a record. The Gyronaut wound up with the fastest ever record time for a motorcycle running gasoline at over 212 miles per hour. In the next lane over, beside the Gyronaut, is the beginning of Jack Lufkin's sports racer, another legend on the salt, at that time painted white with red wheel disks.

Back in Ventura on Alex Tremulis' patio, Redhead builder and driver Bob McGrath and his daughter paid a visit to the designer with a new streamliner model in hand. An ambitious project, the Olympian had all the ingredients for success with a Who's Who of team members. Ak Miller, Jerry Winchell, Bob McGrath and Jerry Spotts all were slated to contribute towards the effort to capture the fastest wheel-driven record then held by the Summers Brothers' Goldenrod. The following press releases detail the progress made from 1969 through 1970...

What ultimately happened with the Olympian effort is still unknown at this time. If you have any information on its fate, please let me know...

I am Bob McGrath's eldest daughter, Jessica. i was the little girl in the picture. Dad passed away in 1988 of lung and pancreatic cancer. All I know about the Olympian is that it lost funding and was never built. Dad talked about terminating racing due to friends dying, but I'm not sure if that was the ultimate reason the Olympian wasn't built. He went on to run an overdrive transmission company, then worked for Peterbilt, then co-owned a diesel mechanic shop in Seattle, WA. I had the model of the Olympian for a while, but it was lost in a move. Jessica McGrath

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Don Hammon

2/1/2013 12:26:32 am

Great to see pictures of Bob and my dad, Don Hammon, in the video.

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Angela Wilson

6/5/2013 01:36:31 am

Great webpage! My dad, Murray Wilson, was friends with McGrath, Iskendarian, Mickey Thompson and Roger Whipp back in the 60's. He worked a bit on the Redhead with Whipp and McGrath. I have a bunch of photos he took of the Redhead and others from the early 60's at Bonneville. He passed away in 1994.

I would like to share the photos I have so that others may enjoy them. If you are interested, or if you know of someone else that would like to have copies of them, let me know.

Thanks for keeping the memories alive, it was such a great time in racing history!

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Don Hammon

7/5/2013 12:58:34 pm

Would love to see the pictures you have of my dads car. Email me at dhfw80d@gmail.com

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Shannon McGrath

7/5/2013 04:41:10 pm

Fun website! I am Bob McGraths youngest daughter. In response to Angelas suggestion, my sister Jessica and I would love to see more photos of our dad and the Redhead. Our mom is in some of the photos on this website as well. Being born in 1970, I am in awe of this part of my Dads life. I'd love to hear more stories about our dad, this group, and the culture that he was a part of... Thanks!!

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Harold lawrence

5/17/2015 10:41:56 am

I was your dads partner in overdrive products and ran 2different cars at Bonneville in the 70s

Leon Nelson

4/12/2016 05:25:35 pm

Hi, Angela...I am a retired dentist, and have lived in Redding, CA virtually all my life. I went to school with Bob McGrath from kindergarten through high school, and was well-aware of his interest in cars and hot rods, ever since he took a class, "Auto Shop," at Shasta High School. When a racetrack, the Shasta Speedway, was constructed only 10 miles from Redding in the early 1950s, Bob loved to enter hot rod races there. I lost track of Bob when he had the opportunity to go to Bonneville Salt Flats, in the early 1960s but his accomplishments there were always noted in our local newspaper, the Redding Record Searchlight. Now, here's the main reason for my emailing you: The Shasta Speedway is being greatly overhauled and upgraded, and the Shasta Historical Society is gathering photos and stories about the track's earliest history. If you have photos or a story or two about Bob's involvement with the Shasta Speedway construction, OR HIS RACING THERE, in the 1950s and early 1960s, please share them with the Society at www.shastahistorical.org/ Leon

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Bill

6/17/2015 06:23:00 pm

I'm Jerry Spotts' son and it's been interesting seeing all the different things my father was apart of back in the day.

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Peter Tremulis

8/30/2016 06:19:21 pm

Steve, you are doing a great job bringing the generations together in appreciation of the efforts and accomplishments the icons of racing, engineering and design made at Bonneville and beyond!

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